Hilda: The Biography of an Old-Fashioned Girl in an Old-Fashioned World

By Semona G. Whitney

In 1881 Carl and Gunilla Swensson traveled from Malmo, Sweden to America in search of a better life for themselves and their three children. Hilda, the youngest daughter, was three years old at the time. The Swenssons, whose name was changed to Swanson at Ellis Island, settled in Northeast Minneapolis where they opened a boarding house on Harrison Street. Hilda the Biography of an Old-Fashioned Girl in an Old-Fashioned World, is a tribute to Hilda Johnsons life written by her daughter, Semona Whitney. The story reads like a novel. Historical and suitable for adults and children alike, it is a vivid portrait of life's chances, losses, and triumphs in another era. Disabled in early childhood by rickets, Hilda cannot run and play outside with the other children. But when a music teacher gives "stahkars litten Hilda" ("poor little Hilda") piano lessons in exchange for a room at the Swanson boarding house, Hilda's adventures begin. Her music takes her as a young adult across the frozen Midwest with Alexander Bull, son of the famous Norwegian violinist, Ole Bull, and back to the drawing rooms of the Minneapolis elite. Hilda struggles between her love for music and her longing for family, between independence and duty, finding at last her true love. A remarkable woman, Hilda viewed life with humor and lived it with passion. This book is her story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 12, 2002
• ISBN: 9780759685215

Semona G. Whitney

Semona Whitney loved to read as a school girl and especially liked English and Shakespearean classes. She began writing poems and essays at an early age and has continued her love of writing to this day, attending YWCA and Readers Digest and COMPASS writing programs. Semona was a feature staff writer in the 1950s for the East Minneapolis Argus, has been published in two Macfadden Womens Group magazines, and also in the Saint Paul Press. Her newspaper experience and her published essays encouraged her to write about her mothers life something she knew all about from her mothers diary and from newspaper clippings of that era. Semona wrote Hilda in the early 1980s after a trip to Sweden where she was welcomed by extended family on her fathers side. Today, Semona Whitney is eighty-seven years old and lives in Northeast Minneapolis in a high-rise apartment building overlooking 1010 18th Avenue, her parents last home.

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emona G. Whitney. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

ISBN: 978-0-7596-8522-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-0-7596-8521-5 (ebook)

Preface

When I was young and growing up, my mother was simply my mother, a parent. Now I realize what a unique person she really was. Looking at her diary, her scrapbooks, her old pictures, and her original music compositions has made me realize the extent of her talent. In spite of a physical handicap, she was able to live a full, varied, and interesting life.

Remembering the stories she told us, her children, of her younger days, the games she shared with us, the homework she helped us with, and the books she read to us, I realize what a quick, intelligent mind she possessed. Her world was boundless even though she was homebound, for she was always ready to learn and to try new interests. Her enthusiasm, curiosity, and zest for life kindle a responsive flame in me, her youngest daughter.

I would like to share her life with others, particularly her grandchildren and great grandchildren, while my memories serve me well. I may add a few fanciful images into conversations and situations, but her story is all based on true fact and happenings.

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 - The Old Country

Chapter 2 - America

Chapter 3 - School Days

Chapter 4 - First Tour

Chapter 5 - Home Again, and the Second Tour

Chapter 6 - Changes

Chapter 7 - Marriage to Jens

Chapter 8 - Hilda

Chapter 9 - Hilda Alone

Chapter 10 - Hilda Meets Martin-His Courtship

Chapter 11 - Hilda and Martin Together

Chapter 12 - The Middle Years of Marriage

Chapter 13 - Getting Old Together

Postscript

My ‘Take it Easy’ Mama

About the Author

Chapter 1

The Old Country

When Gunilla Matilda Nelsson and Carl Johan Swensson danced around the Maypole at a Midsummer Day festival in June of 1860 under the blue and gold flag of Sweden, the coming depression days were far from their minds. It was the end of winter and the music, the dancing, and the warmer weather made them happy. It was Sommarfest time in Sweden, and they gloried in the sun.

Carl and Gunilla were young, and they had taken many walks together. Strolling hand in hand, Gunilla and Carl often stopped to pick flowers, which Gunilla carried home and placed under her pillow, dreaming of the man she was to marry. Gunilla and Carl had gone to the same country school together, under the same schoolmaster, and they had played out in the same bare school yard, though on separate sides: Boys over here, girls over there. And in the little white Lutheran church on Sunday mornings, Gunilla could hear Carl’s fine tenor voice above all the rest of the men who sat together on the right side of the church while she and the other women sat on the left.

Carl had a job as a woodturner in Malmo, capitol of Skane, a province in southern Sweden. Gunilla’s mother had trained her well in the homemaking arts of cooking and weaving. So the marriage banns were issued, the wedding day set, and the wedding feast held where food and music abounded. Many a skal (to your good health) was exchanged that day. Afterwards, Carl and Gunilla went to live in their own little home, a wooden frame house in Malmo.

Three children were born: Axel was the first; Alma, the second; and Hilda, the youngest, was born in 1878. A Spanish lady visiting the neighborhood suggested that baby Hilda’s middle name be Semona, and so my mother was baptized Hilda Semona Swensson.

Carl was a true Swede, sincere, steadfast and law abiding. For him, a handshake would seal a bargain or a deal. He had a shop in the back of their home where he made bins for flour, spoons, bowls, chairs, and toys such as birds, dolls, and horses. With an abundance of forests around Malmo, he had plenty of material to work with. Many evenings, Gunilla would sit cutting narrow strips of cloth from old, worn clothing; she’d sew them together and roll them into a large ball to be braided and sewn together later for scatter rugs. She could also weave herself a dress. Casual hugs and kisses were not part of their nature, so there were not many signs of love and affection. Their Swedish reserve hid deep feelings of love for family and country.

Times were bleak and getting bleaker. A succession of bad harvests had hit Sweden, hurting the southern province of Skane especially. Although Carl had always worked long hours and for low pay, the money he brought home bought less and less of what the family needed. The rich and upper classes disregarded the harsh life and oppression of the poorer classes. By 1880, a large number of Swedes had emigrated from their country.

In the mornings, Gunilla in her apron and with her hair combed into a bun on top of her head would stand by the stove silently stirring the grote (breakfast porridge) for her family. She would put the food on the table hoping that there was enough and stand by the stove, eating the scrapings clinging to the sides of the kettle. At these times she was glad the children were obedient and neat and the house spotlessly clean, with white, starched curtains hanging cheerfully at the windows. Gunilla was too proud to have her neighbors guess at the poverty within.

In the daytime, she would bake rye bread and make thick, yellow pea soup for the evening meal. Sometimes they ate salt herring and potatoes. They could seldom afford fruit, which was costly. In spite of Gunilla’s carefulness, one morning there was not so much as a pinch of flour or salt left in her kitchen bins. Carl felt terrible and Gunilla worried about Hilda, who had been late in walking and now walked with a bad limp.

Of course, Carl had heard from others about America, a land where men were free and where there were plenty of jobs, and food and meat cooking on the stoves. Reports had drifted back from many of their friends who had left for America—a beacon to the poorer Swedes.

One night Carl stomped into the house, sat down, and pounded his fist on the table, roaring to Gunilla, We are going to America.

She could only cry and say thankfully, Ja, ja.

The children looked on wide-eyed. Hiding their heartache, Carl and Gunilla got ready. The next huge, steel passenger steamship found the Swensson family on board, taking one long and final look at their homeland. They left Sweden in 1881 along with 450,000 other emigrants that year. By 1910, every fifth Swede in Sweden had crossed to the other side of the Atlantic ocean.

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Chapter 2

America

The boat journey was long and arduous, and the children tired and cranky, except for Axel who roamed around almost constantly, as some boys will do. Of course, the traveling was easier than it had been when some of their forefathers had tried to reach America in flimsy sailboats that as often as not were lost at sea.

One day, Axel came running, shouting, Mama, Papa, I see America! Come and look! Hurry! They all crowded on the deck for their first glimpse of the new land. Cheers rose up from the men. Now they would be able to feed their families! The women hugged each other with big smiles on their faces, while children dashed around trying to get a better look.

The ship docked on Ellis Island, where the passengers were detained in long lines and had to stand waiting to get their papers approved. Finally, the family—and others from Sweden—were in New York, waiting for a train to take them to St. Paul, Minnesota. They’d heard about the farming, mining, and lumber that awaited eager and willing seekers of fortune. Lakes, streams, and rich prairie land abounded there. Flour and lumber mills, packing houses, factories, and railroads would provide plenty of jobs for them all. And the seasons of the year were comparable to the climate of Sweden.

When they arrived in St. Paul, where they stayed a short while, they were all tired and hungry with little money left. Carl sent Gunilla out to buy some meat for their supper. She walked on her tired legs until she came to a shop that had meat in the windows. She went inside, but try as best she could, pointing and gesturing and talking broken English, she still could not make the butcher understand what she wanted.

Mitten, mitten, she repeated, despairingly, over and